


More People equals More Love?

by VeniVediVici



Series: Futuristic OUAT [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:51:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeniVediVici/pseuds/VeniVediVici
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aurora's happy morning with her two loves becomes something out of the ordinary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More People equals More Love?

‘I sure am a lucky girl,’ Aurora thought to herself as she gazed upon the entwined bodies of her two lovers. ‘To be blessed in every part of my life as I am.’

And she really was. Not many daughters of powerful CEO’s were allowed to lower themselves to such a low job as Aurora had. 

Becoming a seamstress hadn’t been her mother’s idea of what a good girl should become. But creating and sewing was in her blood. It always had been, for as long as she could remember. To long to create clothing out of bits of cloth, to design dresses and what have you that would make people happy; that desire had always been strong in her heart. Whereas most girls in her social circle were content to simply get married, have children and be good wives, that wasn’t what she’d wanted for herself.   
Now, that wasn’t to say that Aurora hadn’t made that concession when her parents had allowed her to follow her dream. Two months before she’d moved away from her parent’s home on the Upper Side of the city, Aurora had gotten engaged to a wonderful, kind doctor named Phillip who wasn’t an ordinary doctor. Along with having a thriving practice, he also made exceptions for those who couldn’t afford a doctor. Some patients he treated for free, with no strings attached.

At first, it hadn’t been love at first side for either of them. It had been more along the lines of being fond for the other, but love had blossomed between Aurora and Phillip, and that love had reached out and grasped Aurora’s bodyguard, a young woman named Mulan, who’d been hired by Aurora’s parents to make sure that no one harmed the young heiress. She was stern, dutiful and very much the loyal bodyguard. 

Neither the couple or Mulan had planned to become trio love affair, especially Mulan. She’d been born in China for most of her life, and as such, had been raised with a strict set of beliefs that didn’t include having an affair with an engaged man and also engaging in activities with his beautiful fiancee, separately and together at different times. Some would say it’s a form of homophobia, but how could she have known that? It had scared her, she’d confessed, to desire to be intimate physically with both of them. It wasn’t familiar to her.

Regardless of the circumstances leading up to their new life together, it had worked out splendidly for all of them. 

The pleasant aches in Aurora’s body certainly attested to that. Last night, they’d celebrated the completion of a beautiful sapphire blue cocktail dress with a plunging neckline and exposed back. It was as bold and daring as the woman who’d commissioned it. Leaving her loves snoozing in bed, she quickly tossed on undergarments, a wrinkled blouse and a paisley skirt that reached to her ankles, she descended the stairs from the bedroom into the living room. 

The living room served a dual purpose; along with its usual purpose, it also served as Aurora’s workroom, complete with dummies, bolts of cloth stuffed in bins, ribbons hanging from the rafters, scraps of used cloth littering the floor, and pins in little tomato pincushions deposited on the coffee table. It was an absolute disaster area. That was always how it was after she’d finished a project.

“Oh, what a mess.” She sighed as she began to clean up.

“You’re a tornado when you work.” The accented voice of Mulan said from behind her; oh, what that voice did to her, Aurora mused. She turned to see Mulan clad only in a sheet that was loosely held together with a hand across her naked body.

“You shouldn’t walk around in just a sheet, love. Someone might want a repeat of last night.” Aurora said with a wink.

“I wouldn’t mind a repeat, to be honest.” Mulan said, dropping her sheet in favor of stretching her lithe body over the couch. “I was promised six, and was only given five.”

Aurora blushed. “Well, maybe I can make that up to you.”

“You work too much,” Mulan said, glancing around the room. “Your parents worry that you’re not giving enough thought to your future with Phillip.”

She straightened up and looked at her lover with a disbelieving gaze. “Where is this coming from?”

Mulan shrugged a bronze shoulder.

Aurora scoffed and tore ribbons down from the rafters and balled them up. “My parents want me to give up everything I’ve worked hard for just to stay home and churn out babies. Not that I wouldn’t mind any Philip and I would have, but that’s not what I want right now. I can’t just give everything up for that! I mean, I’ve just come into my own in this business.”

No reply was given, but Aurora knew that in Mulan’s dark, almond-shaped eyes, she was saying all she wouldn’t speak: disappointment in a daughter who was ignoring the wishes of her parents without at least considering it.

Then she did speak: “They only worry for you, Aurora. Be glad you still have them.”  
Aurora groaned, feeling suddenly exasperated with Mulan. “Don’t try to guilt me, Mulan!” 

A knock at the door interrupted Mulan before she could say anything; instead, she stood up from the couch and smoothly ascended the stairs, giving Aurora the idea to ignore whoever was at the door to instead pursue Mulan. But she listened to her better judgement and went to answer the door. 

At the door stood a slender woman with laugh lines, riotous brown curls and piercing blue eyes. She had a fondness for sundresses, Aurora guessed. The woman wore strappy sandals, something usually worn with a sundress; she also wore a sunshine yellow dress that really brought out the highlights in her hair. 

“Hello,” the woman said in a soft, lilting voice. “I’m Belle French, and—” 

“Oh, my god,” Aurora gasped out; the air began to feel incredibly warm and suffocating. “You’re engaged to Rum Gold!”

Oh, Rum Gold. She’d briefly met the man as a child and immediately thought of him as ‘scary’ and ‘mean’; but that had been then. Aurora had heard about him several times thereafter, and he really wasn’t a cruel, vicious man. Quite the opposite. He championed the total and complete annihilation of the slave trade that existed in the city’s underbelly. Aurora shuddered whenever she thought about it. There was no shortage of rumors however about him, very unflattering rumors.

Belle French’s cheeks reddened. 

“I’m sorry!” Aurora exclaimed, reaching out to attempt to reassure Belle French, to make her understand that she hadn’t meant anything by her exclamation. “I didn’t mean anything! I’m sorry!”

“It’s all right,” Belle said, giving a small smile. “I know what people say about Rum. Sometimes they actually believe it.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. French. My girlfriend tells me I talk before I think; so does my fiance.”  
Belle’s eyes widened. “Your fiance? I thought you said…”

“Oh! There I go again.” Aurora said, groaning. “Um, yeah, my love life is…very, well’s, let’s just say it’s pretty unconventional. Oh, come in, and we’ll talk about whatever you came here to talk about, okay?” She stood aside to let Belle in, letting out a deep sigh as Belle passed by.

“You work in your home?” Belle questioned, seemingly enchanted by the quaint apartment. 

“Yes, I find I’m more inspired here. It’s where I’m most comfortable. Excuse the mess, Ms. French.” Aurora hastily tossed the handfuls of ribbons and bolts of cloth she’d been cleaning up earlier into the half-empty bins, which she then kicked out of the way. 

“Oh, I don’t mind the mess. You wouldn’t believe the mess Rum makes when he tries to relax.”

 

“A mess? Him?” She couldn’t coincide the image of the stern businessman in impeccable, wrinkle-free suits with the messy man that Belle French knew and loved.

Belle chuckled. “Yes, sometimes when he relaxes after a bad day at work, he doesn’t even care how big of a mess he makes.”

“Oh, I s-see.” She motioned towards the now clean couch. “Please. Sit.”

“Thank you, and you can call me Belle.” She said, smiling warmly. “I have a feeling we’ll be on familiar terms soon enough anyway.”

“We will?”

“Yes,” Belle said, smoothing down her skirt with perfectly manicured hands as she sat down. “Because I’d like to hire you to make my wedding dress.”

Aurora’s mouth gaped in complete and utter shock. “Are…are you serious?”

She nodded. “Mm-hmm. I’ve heard good things about you from past clients of yours, and I must say that I’m impressed by what I’ve heard. Do you think you’re up to the challenge?”

“Oh, my god, of course!” Aurora could hardly keep herself from shrieking with happiness. 

She grabbed Belle’s hands without thinking and shook them. “Oh, thank you so much for this opportunity! I will make you the most gorgeous wedding dress ever, trust me!”

“I do believe you,” Belle said with a laugh. 

“You’re just the right person to make my special day even more special.” 

Later that morning, after Belle had left, Aurora had raced up to her bedroom to pounce on Phillip, screaming her incredible news; Mulan had stood in the bathroom doorway with a toothbrush in her mouth, smiling at Aurora’s exuberance. But the news had gotten even better than she’d hoped. For she’d barely gotten that news out of her mouth before she’d gotten a phone call from a man who worked for Gold who had a message for her: he’d like to meet with her at Le Lume that night to further discuss the detail’s of Belle’s wedding dress. 

And to set a price for Aurora’s services, of course.

She’d happily accepted the invitation on the grounds that she could bring her fiance and bodyguard along; the man was surprised that she’d renegotiate, but apparently he was more concerned about keeping his bossy happy.

Aurora picked out a modest dress to wear to the dinner: a knee-length maroon dress that had a slight dip in the bustline, a sash with a crystal brooch pinning it to the dress completed the outfit. Her hair was an absolute mess to tame, but she artfully managed to put it up in a messy bun that looked rather unlike a hastily put together hairdo.

“What do you think?” She asked Phillip, who always had a kind smile and word for his lovely bride-to-be. 

“You look perfect.”

 

“So, you’re the one my Belle hired to make her dress?” The man known as Rum Gold was smaller than Aurora had thought he’d be. He was barely taller than Belle was with heels on, slight with a minor pudge to his stomach. He wore a black suit with a deep pink shirt and slightly darker tie. Rum Gold also had a cane, which he’d slung over the back of his chair.

And he was completely smitten with his fiancee. Their hands were constantly touching the other whether it be a slight touch as one reached to pick up their glass or fork, or clasped together as if the world was about to tear them apart. 

Rum glanced at Belle, his deep brown eyes speaking volumes about his love for the woman sitting beside him. Of course she returned the gaze with as much love as he did.

“Yes, sir. My name is Aurora and you might know my father? I believe you did business with him once.”

Gold nodded. “Ah, yes, I remember him. A decent man if I ever saw one, though he always had a taste for gazing at the women who worked for me.”

Aurora gulped, not knowing how to respond to what Gold had just said. Of course her father appreciated the woman’s form. Didn’t most men glance around occasionally? Did it matter unless he’d acted upon that glance? 

“Rum, dear, let’s talk about the wedding.” Belle said, patting his hand while giving Aurora an apologetic look. 

He smiled, brushing his thumb over the back of her hand. “Yes, yes, of course my love. What did you have in mind?”

“Well,” Belle said, looking back at Aurora. “I wanted, not a plain gown, but also not an extravagant dress. No matter what my fiance tells you, I’m not to be spoiled.” Rum frowned, as though he disagreed with that. 

“He spoils me enough as it is, though the one allowance I’m willing to make is having some of the details embroidered in gold. Rum has some exquisite gold that would be put at the top of the neckline, you know?” She motioned to where dresses normally went up to. 

Aurora nodded, finally on familiar territory. 

The beginning of the dinner had been awkward, to say the least. Phillip had been flustered to be sitting so close to the man who was one of the biggest ‘clients’ he had ever had in his pro bono clinic. Rum Gold had heard of Phillip’s generosity towards those less fortunate than he was and always had former slaves sent over to his clinic before they were then brought back to his tower. And Mulan, oh goodness Mulan! To maintain the air that she was nothing more than Aurora’s bodyguard, she’d insisted on standing behind Aurora’s chair. Well, that hadn’t sat well with Gold, who’d insisted to her that since he didn’t make his own bodyguard—who’d been the one to call Aurora—stand at attention, then there was no reason for Mulan to do the same.

“Can we just do away with the dress itself?” Gold murmured, getting tired of the chattering about the best neckline, did she want ruffles with that dress? How much jewelry would adorn the dress? A train? No train? What was she planning on wearing for underwear? “Thing is becoming a bloody event in and of itself now.”

“Rum!” Belle said with outrage. “You should know that getting a wedding dress is the most important part of the wedding for a girl! It must be perfect!”

“Oh, very well, my dear. This shall be a wedding you won’t soon forget.” Gold promised, giving what was probably Belle’s favorite smile, if her returning grin was any judge of that. Aurora rested her chin in the palm of her hand and thought to herself that if they had a truly loving relationship, than that was the sort of relationship she wanted to have for herself. Whether it be her impending marriage to Phillip, or the love she felt for Mulan, it didn’t matter.   
She just wanted to be happy.


End file.
